The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 26, 2025

Luke 1, 1–4; 4, 14–21

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

In the prologue St. Luke added to his Gospel, he speaks of his gathering together of the eyewitness accounts of Jesus from the people who saw and heard him, and even some who were healed by him.  Luke also declares that he made an orderly sequence of them — fashioning a chronological history —  so that his audience might be strengthened in their faith through coming to know Jesus, his teachings, and his Death and Resurrection, much more vividly.  Luke wrote his Gospel in a very good style of Greek, at times imitating the prose of the classical authors, and filled it with details and accounts we have only from his hand, such as that of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, and parables such as that of the Good Samaritan.

We see an example of Luke’s attention to chronology in the second part of today’s Gospel Reading.  It begins with the Lord’s coming out of the wilderness after being tempted by Satan and the start of his Public Life.  After traversing through Galilee for some months, he returned to Nazareth where he read from a section of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, and then declared it fulfilled in the hearing of his neighbors in the synagogue.  We might miss the significance of this, but the people who heard him declare it did not.  The only one who could fulfill the Scripture was the one whom it prophesied: the Messiah.  The furor that resulted from his declaration — for the people could hardly conceive that one of their own was the promised One — precipitated the Lord’s departure for good from his home town and his subsequent taking up residence in Capernaum, several miles away.  The Gospels of Matthew and Mark, neither of whom were much concerned with chronology, had the Lord settle in Capernaum and only later return to Nazareth.

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”  The Greek word translated here as “is fulfilled” can also mean, “is completed”, which makes it easier for us to understand and the sense.  The Son of God completes Isaiah’s prophecy by coming amongst us, preaching of the Kingdom of God and healing.  Isaiah speaks, the Son answers.  And this passage from Isaiah today continues to be fulfilled with the good works of those who are members of the Body of Christ.